Trump Campaign Collusion with Russia in its Interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election

Rosneft

Rosneft is a Russian government-owned petroleum and gas exploration and production company lead by Igor Sechin, CEO.

On April 28, 2014, in relation to the situation in Ukraine, the US Treasury Dept. announced additional sanctions against seven Russian government officials and 17 entities, including against Igor Sechin, leader of Russian state-owned petroleum company Rosneft. “Sechin has shown utter loyalty to Vladimir Putin – a key component to his current standing.” Source

In June 2015, on Russia National Day, Vladimir Putin visited Italy along with Rosneft’s Igor Sechin and Gazprom’s Alexei Miller. They conducted a private meeting with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Armando Varricchio (future Italian ambassador to the US, see info about Mayflower event). In a speech, Putin said, “Sanctions are to be eliminated or modified to support companies that want to cooperate with us.” Source, Machine translation

On December 7, 2016, Igor Sechin announced that Russia completed the sale of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft for US$11 billion, to Qatar and commodities trader Glencore. Because the money from the sale went to the Russian state, rather than to Rosneft, US sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine did not apply. Source

Rosneft claimed the buyer was a 50/50 joint venture between Qatar and Glencore. However, public records showed the ownership went to a Cayman Islands company whose owners could not be traced, and to a Singapore investment vehicle funded partly by a loan from Italian bank SanPaolo and partly by Qatar. Because they used the Cayman Islands company, it was not possible to determine from public records who owned that 19.5% stake of Rosneft or who was the source of substantial other undisclosed funding. Source

On December 26, 2016, Russian intelligence officer Oleg Erovinkin, a key aide to Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, was found murdered in the back of his car in Moscow. Media has speculated that Erovinkin was one of Steele’s sources in the Trump–Russia Dossier. Source

On January 25, 2017, it was reported that Rosneft sought to purchase a subsidiary company of Vnesheconombank (VEB). Source (Machine Translation)

Note: Sergey Gorkov, chairman of VEB, met with Jared Kushner at Trump Tower in December 2016, just before Rosneft’s 19.5% sale was completed. Source

Steele Dossier

See page on Carter Page’s visit to Moscow – the sale of the 19.5% stake in Rosneft is alleged to be part of a quid pro quo arrangement between the Trump campaign and the Russian Government relating to Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election.

On October 17, 2016, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin assessed that it was no longer possible for Trump to win the US presidency, and tried to find other business and political contacts in the US.